- Yemen stampede kills at least 78 people
- The people in the area crowded to receive $10 in financial donations
- Merchants were giving away donations to mark the final days of Ramadan
At least 78 people have died in Yemen after a stampede broke out over residents crowding a school in the country's capital over $10 financial donations that merchants handed out to mark the final days of Ramadan.
Two witnesses, identified as Abdel-Rahman Ahmed and Yahia Mohsen, said that a group of armed Houthis fired into the air when crowds gathered in an attempt to disperse them. However, this allegedly hit an electrical wire, causing it to explode and causing the people in the area to panic.
Yemen Stampede Causes At Least 78 Deaths
Video footage captured the moment of the incident where bodies were packed together as some people were climbing on top of each other in an attempt to make it through the crowd. Many residents had their mouths covered by other nearby people in the crowd while the rest of their bodies were hidden from view due to the dense crowd, as per Aljazeera.
There were other photographs of the incident that were released by the Houthis, who are in control of the capital. The images showed bloodstains, shoes, and victims' clothing all scattered on the ground as investigators were busy examining the area.
Reports noted that more than 300 people were injured in the stampede, citing a Houthi security official. At least 73 of these were brought to the al-Thawra Hospital located in Sanaa, said Hamdan Bagheri, the deputy director of the medical establishment. Families were known to be rushing to hospitals to find their loved ones.
In a statement, Brig Abdel-Khaleq al-Aghri, the spokesperson for the Houthi-controlled Ministry of Interior, described the recent incident as "tragic." He also blamed the "random distribution" of funds without coordination with local authorities having factored in the stampede.
Crowding for $10 Financial Donations
The horrific incident also came a few days prior to the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan. At this time, religious worshippers would start giving away Zakat al-Fitr, otherwise known as the Zakat of Breaking the Fast of Ramadan, to anyone who was in need, according to CNN.
Law enforcement personnel and rescue teams quickly rushed to the scene of the incident following the reports, said the Interior Ministry. The ministry's statement added that the dead and wounded people were sent to hospitals while the two merchants that handled the financial donations were taken into custody.
The incident occurred as the region has been experiencing an eight-year-long civil war that has already resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of people, has devastated the country's economy, and pushed millions of people into hunger.
In 2015, a Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen after Houthi rebels ousted the sitting government from the capital Sanaa in 2014. Many watchers have viewed that conflict to be a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, said Reuters.
Related Article: Kyiv Receives Patriot Missiles, Gears Up for Counterstrike
